


Monkey

by notabadday



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, a monkey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-27
Updated: 2014-05-27
Packaged: 2018-01-26 18:23:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1698092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notabadday/pseuds/notabadday
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Fitz's birthday and Jemma surprises him with the one thing he's always wanted...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Monkey

**Author's Note:**

> Set wherever you please, but I would lean towards sometime after Beginning of the End.

"A monkey?"

 "A monkey."

 "No. No way. Never. Nope. And, let me think, not in a chance in hell."

 "But, sir-"

 "Simmons."

 "Here me out, sir." And when she commands him, he feels inclined to at least let her make her point. "He's had the worst year imaginable. I mean, you get it, right? We're lucky if we make it through the day, the way our luck's been going, let alone to another birthday. I really think it'll lift his spirits."

 "I don't want a monkey roaming around The Bus," Coulson says in the most authoritative tone he can muster. Simmons chooses to ignore him, as she seems to be doing more and more.

 "Sir, we've had Asgardians and Super-Soldiers and Hydra on board. Comparatively, one little monkey is nothing," she says, peppy and persuasive with her toothy smile on full display.

 

* * *

 

"A monkey?!" Fitz exclaims excitably, in a pitch a few decibels higher than his usual register, as he enters the lab to see a baby capuchin swinging from an open cabinet door. "Hello little guy..."

 Fitz begins to tentatively approach the monkey. Simmons watches, keeping a cautious distance. " _Girl_. Careful not to scare her."

 "Yeah, I know. I know monkeys," Fitz coolly insists.

 Just at that moment, the monkey jumps from the cabinet onto the counter, carelessly grabbing a shiny pair of goggles in her path. Fitz creeps after the monkey, who seems keen to keep moving away just as he gets within reaching distance.

 "Not the goggles! Those are intricately designed magnification goggles. And my only pair," Fitz whines as the monkey clutches at them loosely. Inevitably, the goggles soon become shards as they come crashing to the floor.

 "You'll have to wear some of the standard-made ones. There'll be some spares kicking around," Simmons reassures him, knowing full well what his response will be but trying to make the best of it.

 "I can't wear those. They don't fit my head size, and the magnification range is limited."

 "Okay, well, look at the goggles as collateral damage. Isn't it more important that you get to hang out with Milly here?"

 "Her name's Milly?" He smiles. "She's a bit... wild."

 As Simmons rolls her eyes at Fitz's complaint, it suddenly occurs to both of them that they've lost sight of the precocious primate.

 "Where's the monkey? We've lost a monkey!" Fitz spun around awkwardly, his eyes searching the lab for any sign of a disturbance. "Oh, sure, now's the time that she becomes mindful and quiet. Where the bloody hell..."

 "Fitz, quiet," Simmons instructs, gesturing for silence.

 They hear a rustle coming from the corner of the room. Fitz crawls over to the noise, whispering, "Here little monkey..."

 "Would now be a good time to ask why you thought a monkey would _help_ in the lab, Fitz? This seems like anarchy."

 He ignores her, focusing on the task at hand. Just as Milly comes into sight, so does Fitz and she makes her break for it. Heading around the table, the adorable baby monkey climbs up into a very surprised Simmons’ arms and quickly settles before Fitz even has chance to turn his head.

 "I guess she likes me," she says proudly.

 He gets up off the floor and comes over to his lab partner and her primate friend. Now that the monkey has settled with Simmons, he reverts to admiring her. Just as he reaches out a hand, though, Milly jumps out of Simmons’ arms, this time making a break for the door.

 "Coulson's going to kill me."

 

* * *

 

"A monkey?" Skye repeats incredulously. "You brought a monkey on The Bus? Coulson let you?"

 "Yes, he very reluctantly agreed to it. But we have to find her before he does," Simmons tells her urgently, as Fitz wanders around, searching, in the background.

 "Yeah, you really do," Skye laughs. Simmons doesn’t. "Okay, so did you see where she went?"

 "She just sort of swung up the stairs and went out of sight before we caught up."

 Fitz interrupts: "We need some bananas. We could lure her with bananas."

 "Try my room," Skye replies.

 Fitz disappears in the direction of Skye's bunk, as Simmons and Skye proceed to continue the search effort. When they hear him returning, he's smiling and holding a bunch of bananas in each hand. "Why do you have so many bananas in your room, Skye?"

 "I like bananas," Skye responds, shutting down any further questioning Fitz might have.

 "Okay, so I should just wave 'em around a bit, right?"

 "Fitz, maybe I should be in charge of the bananas," Simmons tentatively suggests as she watches him gesticulate wildly, wishing to avoid another Fitz-and-run situation with the young primate. By now, she's proudly accepted that she is the more appealing of the two of them to the monkey. Fitz reacts by clutching his bananas tighter, a little wounded by his redundancy. "C'mon."

 He considers complaining about his birthday, that he's spending it wandering around The Bus with Simmons and bananas, looking for a missing monkey. But when he tries to think about what he'd rather be doing, nothing comes to mind. He’s spent the day wandering around The Bus with Jemma (and bananas) looking for the monkey she got just for him. Not a bad day, all things considered. And she'd really tried so hard, for him.

 Then came a message from May over the intercom: "Monkey in the cockpit."

 Fitz and Simmons look at each other for a moment, eyes wide with panic. Uhoh.

 

* * *

 

"I'm sorry about today."

 "Yeah, it was a bit bananas," Fitz replies, grinning. "Lot of monkey business. I can't believe you managed to swing that with Coulson."

 Simmons rolls her eyes, with a breezy smile softening her expression. "Are you quite done?"

 "I chimply can't believe what you did," he adds playfully, before changing gear. "I appreciate the thought. I really do."

 "Good, because there _was_ thought, despite appearances. I wanted you to have a good birthday."

 "I did have a good birthday," Fitz reassures her.

 "Despite the fact that the monkey I got you threw lumps of banana at you, smashed your goggles and tore up the paperwork you spent nine hours working through yesterday?" Simmons looks around at the mess that was left in their beloved, and usually so organised, lab. It looks like a bomb has gone off, even more so than when a bomb did go off (a small one, Fitz’s fault).

 "Yes," he insists, sounding a little wounded by the reminder. "At least now I can appreciate _not_ having a monkey in the lab the other 364 days of the year."

 "Oh, I hope you're not feeling disillusioned."

 "I still love monkeys, Simmons. But I think perhaps from now on, it might be best if I love monkeys from afar."

 They smile at each other warmly, before Simmons leans over to him and kisses him affectionately on the cheek. “Happy birthday, Fitz.”

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think. I hope you enjoy it. (And thanks for all the love on the previous fic. I was really excited that anyone even read it!)


End file.
